Furnace-charging machine



Mar. 3, 1925. 1,528,450

W. M. NEcKERMA-N FURNACB omge-ING MACHINE Filed'bct. 1e, 1922 vanced rapidly and accurately into thei j section well within the body of the furnace;

Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENTToFFicE.

WILLIAM M. NECKERMAN," or Yo-UNGsTowN, oIIFIo, AssIGNoE To THE YoUNGsToWN SHEET AND TUBE GOMPANY, or YoUNGsTowN, oHIo, A CORPORATION or onro.

FUENAcE-GHAEGING MACHINE.

Application led October 16, 1922. Serial No. 594,783.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that'I, WILLIAM M. NECKER- MAN, a citizen of the United. States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace-Charging Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The machine of this invention is designed primarily for the charging into a furnace of long thin flexible sheets of metal, technically known as skelp, ;which sheets are heated in the furnace to a welding heat and are thereafter drawn out at the far end of the furnace and run through formers which transform the sheet into a tube. In the operation of such a machine, it is essential that the skelp sections, one at a time, be admouth of the furnace and hurled from the machine with sufficient force to carry each and it is also necessary to provide means for the positive traveling of the carriage step by step across the mouth of the furnace, so that the skelp sections will be deposited side by side' within the furnace and in closely adjacent parallel relation to one another.

The machine of the present invention employs a magnetic roller for carrying forward the skelp sections and securing a sufficient grip on each section to impart the necessary thrust thereto. The magnetic roller, which is positively driven, occupies an elevated position with respect to the skelp sections upon which it operates; and the present invention is designed primarily to so arrange the feeding platform with respect to the elevated magnetic roller that the skelp sections will be lifted by magnetic action and gripped firmly to the surface of the roller without being thereby misdirected in their line of travel toward the furnace mouth.

Experience has shown that, where an elevated magnetic roller has been employed, it is dillicult to so regulate the magnetic flux as to positively carry forward the skelp section without occasionallyy causing a skelp section to cling or adhere so firmly to the roller as to cause its forward end to be lifted to a point abovethe furnace mouth, thereby tending to 'jam the apparatus, with a skelp section from the magnetic roller and for positively guiding and directing its forward end into the furnace mouth. n

The invention also relates to the construction of the charger as a whole and to the arrangement provided for stackingl the skelp in suitable and convenient relation to the feeding means. so that the skelp sections may be readily delivered `to the magnetic roller in orderly succession and without undue effort on the part of the operator.

In the drawing: Y

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the forward or delivering end of the charger showingits relation to the furnace mouth; and

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional elevation taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The charger, as a whole, is built upon a carriage comprising transversely extending bottomsills 10 provided with journal boxes 11 for the journaling of two pair of wheels 12 which travel on rails 13, the rails extending transversely of the furnace mouth i and in parallel relation to the forward wall of the furnace. The drawings show but a single pair of these sills, but it will be understood that the arrangement is duplicated atl the -outer end of the carriage.

The cross sills 10 serve to support a longitudinally extending elevated table 14 above which a stack of skelp sections 15 is deposited. The table 14 is broken at recurrent intervals to provide for the protrusion of the upper surface of a set of 'supporting idl rollers 16 upon which the skelp stack directly rests, the arrangement being such as to per? mit a stack of skelp to be shoved inwardly along the rollers to the proper position from which to begin the feeding operation.

The table 14 at its inner side is provided with a series of slightly elevated edge flanges 17 Whose upper surfaces are in aligned relation to one another and to the upper surfaces of the rollers so that skelp, one at a time, can be slid from the stack laterally and dropped into position to be engaged bfy the feeding elementsnow to be describe At one side of the elevated table, and near the forward end of the carriage, is' journaled a magnetic roller 18 which is mounted upon a shaft 19 carried by a bracket 2O suitably secured to a runway 2l, which runway lies in parallel relation to the elevated tableI with its upper surface slightly below the surface of the table. The shaft may be driven by a ulley 19 as shown or4 in any other suitab e manner. The magnetic roller, as shown, preferably consistsot' two sections of magnetizable material separated by a gap which may be occupied by a spacer ring 22 of brass or the like. hut it will be understood that the specific construction of the magnetic roller forms no part of the present invention, and that the same may be of any suitable and well known construction as regards the means provided for transmitting magnetic flux through the roller surface.

The method of constructing the inner windings and o-f wiring the roller arevwell understood to those skilled in the art and need not be here described, nor is it essential that the roller surfaceitself be of magnetizable material, since a similar result can be attained by the use of nonmagnetizable material, such as manganese steel, provided only that adequate means are employed for directing the magnetic flux through the roller sections at the point of contact with the skelp. It will thus be understood that; theyterm magnetic roller is intended to cover any form of roller which is internally provided with magnetic means for ensuring-a rm magnetic contact with the skelp, which latter serves to bridge the gap between the roller sections and complete the magnetic circuit. v

It will be observed that the lower surface 'of the magnetic roller occupies a position (i li) slightly above the plane of the edge flanges 17, so that the skelp sections might be slipped edgewise from the elevated platform through the gap thus afforded and in position tobe lifted by magnetic action into Contact with the roller. It is preferred, for purposes of ready manipulation, to deposit the skelp stack slightly to the re'ar of the magnetic' roller, and allow the skelp sections to fall upon a pair of feed rollers 23 and 24 which protrude upwardly` through the surface of the runway, the forward roller 23 being located immediately below the magnetic roller. This arrangementA permits the skelp sections to be pried from the stack and dropped down onto the feed rollers, and lafter being initially fed to a point well beneath the magskelp section readily passing over the rear feed roller as it is drawn forward. The skelp sections being flexible will readily accommodate themselves to a certain amount of flexing action occasioned by the lifting of the skelp sections into contact with the magnetic roller.

In practice, each skelp section at its forward end is slightly upturned after the manner of the tip of a ski, in order to afford a certain amount of sled runner effect in sliding the skelp sections into the furnace, but primarily for the purpose of facilitating the passage of the heated sections through the forming die or 4bell at the far end of the furnace. This formation of the sections, causes the same to adhere very closely to ,the magnetic roller when the tip end of the section is first engaged by the roller and develops a tendency for the section to curl up around the'vroller to a greater or less extent, especially when a sufficiently strong magnetic action to insure positive feeding is utilized. To counteract this tendency and to positively' direct the skelp toward the furnace mouth, a stripper plate 25 is provided at a point immediately in advance of the magnetic roller, which stripper plate is arranged in oblique relation with respect to the top of the runway over which the rollers advance, the outer or rear edge of the stripperplate, which lies in proximate relation to the roller, being elevated with respect to the inner edge 26, which latter is flared upwardly yand overlies a protruding shelf 27 outwardly projecting from the mouth 28 of the furnace 29.

The inner edge of the stripper plate is of advance into the furnace. said contact being effectively maintained by reason of the fact that the skelp will flex or bend sufficiently to accommodate itself to the positions mentioned, which, of course, requires that the magnetic flux be sufficiently strong to maintain contact with the skelp section despite the flexure in the manner stated.

In order to maintain uniformity in the feeding action between the magnetic roller lll mounted on the and the underlying feed roller 23, a pair of friction wheels 30 are provided which are shafts of the respective rollers, so that the same will rotate in unison with one another.

In ractical operation, a stack of skelp is slid orwardly over the idle rollers 16 on the elevated platform until the forward end of the stack is closely adjacent to the magnetic roller. The operator then grasps the uppermost skelp section from the stack and prfes ofl' the rear end which falls inwardly and slides Aover the edge flanges 17 toward he runway carrying down the forward end of the skelp until the skelp assumes a position in the runway pointing directly toward tht.` furnace mouth. The feed rollers 23 and 24, being positively driven, will advance the skelp the influence of -the overlying magneticV roller, whichflexes the forward end of the skelp section upwardly by magnetic action, and as soon as contact with the magnetic roller is effected, the skelp section will be fed forward rapidly and hurled into the furnace mouth with sufficient force to carry the rear end of the skelp section several feet inside of the furnace. As the skelp section advances, its tail end will drag along the runway and its forward end will be flexed downwardly by contact with the stripper plate, thus bowing the skelp section upwardly at an intermediate point which' produces in the skelp section the effect of a wage crest which runs rapidly from end to en -It will be noted, however, that at no times will the flexing action be excessive, and in view'of the fact that the magnetic roller occupies a position but slightly above the surface of the runway and the lower rollers located therein, a firm and uniform magnetic grip is maintained at all times on the skelp section. The structure is one which permits the skelp sections to be delivered in rapid order to feeding position and at the same time insures means for positive and certain feeding of the skelp sections forwardly with sufficient speed and precision to hurl them with the force necessary to carry them -well within the furnace mouth. The arrangement, furthermore, is one which enables a sufliciently strong magnetic flux to be maintained to insure a posi-l tive gripping of all skelp sections despite irregularities of contour in the sections and without danger that some of the skelp sections will clin so closely to the magnetic roller as 4to tend to interfere with the proper guiding of the skelp sections to the furnace mouth.

I claim: y 1. In a furnace charger, the combination a carriage provided with a runway for sections of metal, a magnetic roller elevated section sufficiently to bring it within combination of a above the runway, a stripper plate in advance of the magnetic roller, and a. feed roller located in the runway below the magnetic roller, substantially as described.

2. In al furnace charger, the combination of a carriage provided with a. runway for sections of metal, a magnetic roller elevated above the runway, a stripper plate in advance of the magnetic roller, said plate extending Aobli uely downwardly forward from said roller, and a feed roller located in the runway below the magnetic roller, substantially as described.

3. In a furnace charging machine, the combina-tion of a carriage provided with a runway for metallic strips, a'magnetic roller elevated over the runway, and a feeding roller in the runway roller, the carriage being further provided with an elevated platform laterally adjacent the runway for the deposit of a stack of metallic strips, and a plurality of idle rollers protrudinfr through said platform, substantiauy'as dscribed. f

4. In a furnace charging machine, the combination of a carriage provided with a runway for metallic stri and further provvided with an elevated p atform adjacent the runway, said vplatform having along its inner edge a series of edge flanges elevated slightly above the surface of the latform, a plurahty of rollers mounted within the platform and protruding thereof to have their feeding surfaces in the same plane with the edge flanges, a magnetic roller overlying the runway and adapted to be engaged by metallic strips in the runway, and a stripper plate overlyin the runway in advance of said roller, su stantially. as described.

5. In a furnace charging machine,I the carriage provided with a runway for metallic strips, vided with an elevated platf inner edge aseries of edge flanges elevated slightly above the surface of the platfolfn, a plurality of rollers mounted ,within the platform and protruding above the surface thereof to have their feeding surfaces in the same plane with the edge flanges, a. magnetic roller overlying the runway and adapted to be engaged by metallic stripsin the runway, and a stripper plate overlying the runway in advance of said roller, said stripper plate extending obliquely forward and downward lfrom said roller, substantially as described.

6. In a furnace Vcharging machine, the combination of a carriage provided with'a runway for metallic strips, and further provided with anelevated platform adjacent the runway, said platform having along its inner edge a series of edge flanges elevated slightly above the surface of the platform,

a plurality of rollers mounted w1thin the and further p-roorm adjacent the runway, said platform having along its below the magnetic above the surface platform and protruding above the surfaoe late extending obli uely forward. and thereof to have their feedin surfacesjn ownward from said ro er, and a feed rollerl f the same plane with the edge anges, ama-g- Yrot-ruding through s aid runway and under- 10 netic roller overlying the runway and adaptying the magnetic roller, substantially as 5 ed to be engaged by metallic strips inthe described. A

rlmway, a. stripper plate overlying the run- A l Y way in advance of said roller, said stripper WILLIAM M. NECKERMAN. 

